The Secret of Dragonhome

Dragonhome #1

by John Peel

Melayne and her young brother Sarrow are Talents, hunted by the King's relentless Seekers. If their Talent is discovered, they will be sent to their death. So they must hide...or die.
Melayne and Sarrow find refuge at Dragonhome, the mysterious estate of the shadowy Lord Sander. Lord Sander also has something to hide--a dark and fantastical secret that haunts his every move. In order to save herself and her brother, Melayne must confront forces much stronger than her talent--tempests of magic, desire, and betrayal. If Melayne is not careful, her truth will be revealed.
Melayne must unlock the secrets of Dragonhome. As danger approaches, it will be her only hope.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Dragons, Fiction, Romance, High Fantasy, Childrens

369 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

John Peel is the author of Doctor Who books and comic strips. Notably, he wrote the first original Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Genesys, to launch the Virgin New Adventures line. In the early 1990s he was commissioned by Target Books to write novelisations of several key Terry Nation Dalek stories of the 1960s after the rights were finally worked out. He later wrote several more original Daleks novels.

He has the distinction of being one of only three authors credited on a Target novelisation who had not either written a story for the TV series or been a part of the production team (the others were Nigel Robinson and Alison Bingeman).

Outside of Doctor Who, Peel has also written novels for the Star Trek franchise. Under the pseudonym "John Vincent", he wrote novelisations based upon episodes of the 1990s TV series James Bond Jr..

Reviews

[A.K. Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

During my teenage years, I’m not sure how this dog-eared book survived. For many years, it was my absolute favourite. Is it any wonder I related to a vegetarian protagonist when I, too, had chosen to be vegetarian? Not to mention Melayne has the ability to speak to animals. An ability that gets even better when you add dragons.

I’d like to think this is one of the books that spearheaded my intolerance toward prejudice. Or, at the very least sewn the seed which helped to guide my formative years. In the book, Melayne is bombarded with hateful propaganda toward the neighbouring country. But when she crosses the border to escape prosecution, she discovers that everything she’s heard about the country and its people is wrong. They are people, same as her.

Melayne is witty, cunning, tenacious, and virtuous. She’s easy to love, easy to relate to, and easy to root for. Place her in the kind of riveting world Peel created, and you’ve got a story you’ll re-read for years to come.

I know I do.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

If only Melayne were older!!! Then I would give this five stars! I just couldn’t get over the cringe factor of a 15yo with a ~25yo.

I know such an age gap happened plenty in Medieval times, but in this context it is unacceptable. 1) It’s a fantasy novel. 2) There is not enough reference to the Medieval historical context to justify this.

If I could let go of that fact, I’d rate it at five stars. No, it’s not perfect, but I enjoyed the hell out of it and I can’t say that too often.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think this book is in print anymore, which is a shame. I fell in love with this book when i first read it circa 1998 in 7th grade. I bought it on a whim from one of those Scholastic catalogs we got in our English, excuse me, Language Arts classes every so often. I bought it with "Icebound" by Dean Koontz (which, in my opinion, shouldn't be on a Scholastic book list. What with explicit sex scenes and whatnot. And yes, I already read that one in 7th grade too, haha). I think I read the whole book in about 4 days, which was pretty quick for me back then.

It's about a girl, Melayne, who is a Talent -- meaning, she possesses a special talent that not many people have. She can talk to animals. Her brother, Sarrow, is also a Talent, but they're not sure what his is yet. The Talents all over the land are being rounded up and murdered (wow, metaphor for the Holocaust, anyone? Heh, I just realized that) because they are Talents and the "normal people" are afraid that they will raise an army and murder everyone! Rah! But Melayne is 15 and her brother is 8, what are they going to do? So they run. After a few frightening misadventures, they find a place called Dragonhome, which if I recall correctly, is a castle. The duke, or earl, or king/prince whatever he is (it's been a while, okay?), runs the castle with a small staff. He (Lord! he's a Lord!), Lord Sander, 27 (I think?), lives there with his son Coran, 5. He's hires Melayne as a nanny for the boy, and lets her live there. Slowly she becomes aware of some of Sander's deepest secrets, secrets that could kill them all! Dun dun dun! There's action and adventure, and love, and gasp! kissing (teehee!). It was a lot of fun. I love it.

Was hoping for a sequel, but I can't find anything about it. Even copies of this book are hard to come by. Gosh, I hope my copy is still put away in a box somewhere... Great book -- at least in my 13-year-old recollection, haha. 12+, though, I'd say.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

**.5 to *** stars if I am being generous

it's interesting revisiting childhood favorites and seeing what does and does not still work for you. sadly there was a lot of this that when perceived by an adult reads very cringy, wildly unbelievable and oversimplified and just kinda creepy.

now this is definitely aimed towards a middle grade or YA audience so I being too harsh feels unfair. but our MC being 15 and her love interest about 25??? that I judge extra harshly because of who was reading this. young me should not have thought this was romantic and I wish it weren't depicted as such, I don't miss the era of YA fantasy where all our leads were teenagers w 25-35 yr old love interests, it was a bad time.

tropes that still work for me because I'm a sucker:
• animal familiars (ok Greyn's not technically a familiar but he definitely is), especially if it's a wolf
• dragons. anything dragons. talking dragons are even better!
• talking to animals. what can I say, I'd still love that power

tropes that no longer work for me:
• child rebellions (this whole sequence.....embarrassingly unbelievable)
• mysterious castle harboring a dark handsome man w a tragic past
• brooding handsome 25 yr old lords who are suddenly enamored w our child MC
• our MC being superpowered and somehow able to overcome any obstacle w the use of her brilliant wits (her plans are hairbrained at best) and her super strong Talent (that's what we call our special abilities)
• our enemies being won over by a little kindness and some open discussion

the other baffling aspect of this book was how long it took to get to the main plot? we spent so long running around trying to escape capture because of our Talent and then had a very dragged out sequence of getting captured and leading a child rebellion to defeat the military personnel stationed at their prison. that was also incredibly cringey because everything she did and said was handled exactly like an immature angry teenage girl because she is one but the story always worked out perfectly. she never had to deal w any real conflict because no matter how ridiculous it was, things always just went her way to such an extreme, it felt like the narrative arc was coddling her. very little growth ever happened as a result, she just magically overcame any struggle (outside her brother). we defeated the king's arm w birds and fleas......

anyways we didn't actually get to dragonhome until nearly 200 pages in of a 370 page book. as a consequence we rushed through meeting our dragons and figuring out how to better their situation and left off on just narrowly escaping their castle under seige to sail away to the hopes of a better future on some far off islands. definitely would be improved if less time was spent on the mini revolution and more on the dragons and staying w them so set up their new home a bit. oh well!

still not bad, very easy to consume, super creepy love story but ultimately w just the right tropes to appeal to young teenage girls. does not stand up to scrutiny by adult eyes but it wasn't meant to anyways.

[Blake Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, super corny, good lead character, but with too few flaws.

[Tonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I have gone back to many times over the years. I cant recall the first time I read it. Maybe 2003? It moves very quickly. The events of the book take place over the course of only a few weeks.

If one can overlook the fact that the main character is supposed to be 15 then this is a good book. The writer does not write this like the main character is 15. Even if he goes out of his way to mention that she went through puberty at 12. So the age difference between a mid 20 something(It never confirms how old Lord Sanders is) and a 15 year old is gross. I am just going to rewrite their ages in my head to make this a little less...... pedophilia. He's going to be 22 and she is 17. If this is set in a Medieval type setting which the clues indicate then the original age difference is less gross BUT MODERN WRITERS SHOULD NOT DO THIS ANYWAY BECAUSE FICTION..... but like I said I changed their ages. In that time period that would have made her a fully grown woman BUT that is how the writer writes this character. She is not a teenager how ever desperately he tried to tell us she is.

I love the concept of Talents. The use of abilities are derived from Dragon Scales. If you take x-men and put them in the dark ages you have this book. I would have loved to have this world expanded. I think this book could have been fleshed out better but I think its a Young Adult book so the pace makes more sense for young readers. Its easily devoured in an afternoon.

It is a great metaphoric read as well. There are several points that the writer makes that in our modern society and as a reader in 2019 reminds us that the world never changes. "There are always more victims". Normal society has decided that Talents need to be removed. So they kill the dragons to prevent more Talents. It highlights prejudices in a way that is easily consumable and reminds the reader that they are bad.I love this book. Dragons, fantastical abilities and a plot that moves itself along. Great introduction to fantasy when i was younger and a warm familiar read as an adult coming back to it. Minus the gross pedophilia.

[CJ Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book introduced me to fantasy novels when I was a wee lad in 2005ish. I absolutely loved every bit of it. I reread it recently so I could go through the entire trilogy. It may not be "perfect" to some. Melayne being 15 to Sander's early-to-mid-20s can be a bit weird. I used to be under the common impression that womrn married very young in the Middle Ages, and we see this presented in many Fantasy novels and even Disney. However, outside of aristocratic families promising their daughters at a very young age, my own research apparently pointed out that young marriages may not have been the norm. (I am no expert, and data is scarce, so I could be incorrectly informed) Outside maybe that, this has been my favorite book for all my life, and was one of the things that shaped many if my adult hobbies!

The idea of the Talents is really intriguing. I saw someone point out how the plight of the Talents is similar to the Mutants of the X-Men. I do see the close comparison, but unloke the X-Men, the atrocities being commited against Talents is far worse (I read many comics, but not the X-Men, so I might be wrong.)

I do still have to make one comment that does not alter my rating. The primary negative I've heard about this book is Melayne & Sander's age gap. What NO ONE talks about is the gap between Ysane and Bantry, Sander's soldier. When Bantry is introduced, Melayne says he looks to be in his mid-50s. He mildly (though respectfully) flirts with Melayne, and actually gets together with Ysane, who is also 15. But no one mentions this. Why? Who knows, they're not main characters.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Peel sets forth a tale of persecution and power in the fantasy novel The Secret of Dragonhome. Melayne and her younger brother Sarrow are gifted children known as Talents, the popular fighting force of choice for the wars ravaging the kingdoms. The murder of their parents sends the siblings on a quest for a new home. Attempting to keep Sarrow safe, Melayne uses her animal communication powers to befriend a wolf family and gain a protector in a loyal wolf cub. Despite precautions, the children are found by a Seeker and conscripted into a training army. Rebellious Melayne breaks the group free of their commanders, and flees to a nearby village. There she learns of the mysterious Lord Sander and his castle; her persistence earns her employment as a nanny of sorts to the young prince. The discovery of dragons, revelation of new Talents, and a daring escape lead Melayne and Sander on a new journey to set right the wrongs of old. Peel’s novel mixes the realm of sorcery with a hint of the X-Men for a nifty tale aimed at younger readers. Despite the intrigue of the setup, the book itself falls into classic tropes and tends to wander in its plot structure. Characters are very one-note, with few helpful descriptions to build the world up in the mind. The Secret of Dragonhome is quite obvious, but does lay a foundation for the youth to build upon.

[Scout Langley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melanie and her brother Sarrow are just trying to survive. They are kidnapped while running from the sea raiders that killed their parents only to be forced to fight in the army for a war that no one remembers what they are fighting for. When they finally settle as in at Dragonhome as a tutor for Lord Sander, they begin to wonder if they can find peace here. That was into they hear wailing every time and hear rumor that his late wife is now haunting the Dragonhome. Will Melanie and Sander be safe at the Dragonhome or will they get more than they bargeoned for?

"Humans never eat properly," Greyn said, slipping back to join them now that they we out of sight of the farm. You do horrible things to good food instead of eating it raw and bloody, as it should be."

Melanie with her ability to speak with animals is one of a very select few that are born with magical abilities. While this is most definitely not the first book that has magical abilities or even the ability to talk with animals, I love that the author gave all the different animals different characters.

"Children are like flowers they blossom when attention is paid to them"

[Chestnut · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my favorite book when I was a kid. I got it at the Scholastic book fair and read and re-read it until it had to be taped up with packaging tape to keep it together. Based on how I felt about it as a kid I'd rate it 5 stars.

Reading this as an adult was nostalgic for sure, though I was finally able to pick up on things that are yuck. Like the fact Melayne is 16 and Sander is a whole 10 years older than her. That there is blatant ableism, etc.

I think the nostalgia factor kept it at a 3 star read for me rather than a 1 or 2. I still would like to read the other two books in the series. I could never find them growing up, and come to find out that they're both ebooks. (Not sure if they ever got published physically?)

One of my bucket list items has been to find the rest of the series and read it. So I will definitely give it a try.

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book back in primary school and it has stayed with me ever since. I finally found a copy recently to call my own and I was surprised by how much of it I was able to remember and how much I forgot. It has been roughly 15 years since I last read this book and it is still amazing. From the first chapter I am pulled into the story, into Melayne's and Sarrow's world. Never a dull moment for these two. It may be set in another world but the story is easy to follow and leaves you wanting more. Definitely hunting for the next book :)

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was interesting and I enjoyed it. However, the characters were hardly age-appropriate. The author seemed to realize this and made concession by having other characters observe how mature the two main characters acted. This gave the story an inconsistent feel. It felt like the author didn't personally know any children, can't remember what it was like to be one, and didn't bother with any research.

[Jeremy Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful fantasy setting and magic system. The characters are likable and well-written.

My only critique was the rushed ending, but it leads to a sequel and I look forward to learning more about this world.

[James]

The first book in the "Dragonhome" series sees Melayne set off with her brother after their parents are murdered by Sea Raiders. They end up at the mysterious castle of Dragonhome, where the Lord has secrets of his own.

[AR · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in middle school, and while it was a favorite of mine at the time, it was definitely better when I was younger.

[Lynn Orser · Rating 1 out of 5]

Somewhat simplistic but interesting read. Great book for young adults to start their introduction to fansaty novels. Enjoy

[Heather Hay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

I'm a fan of the fun clean writing style and jauntily moving plot.

[Little Feather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember enjoying this book when I was a kid. I look forward to re-reading it.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it at the time. Could never remember the title.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book... I loved it so much that i got caught up in it and read it in 3 hours!!!

[Hope Gamble · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read this book 20ish years ago when I was in middle school. It took me forever to remember what the title was, but I immediately bought it when I did!

[Brooke Heaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is my all time favorite book. i reread it once a year. i can pick it up, open to a random page to read it and know exactly what happens. I LOVE THIS BOOK

[Luann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read written by John Peel. It was an interesting concept and well-written, but I didn't enjoy the characters as much as I'd hoped.

[atlas · Rating 1 out of 5]

she’s literally a minor??????

[Stephanie Keen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book 8 times through. One of my all time comfort reads.

[Hunter Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really cool story but the writing style is a little basic and there are a lot of kids doing unrealistic things for kids to do so I just pretend everyone is 10 years older.

[Danita · Rating 3 out of 5]

In fifth grade, I picked up this book from my teacher’s classroom library. I could remember enjoying it, but I couldn’t remember many of the details. During quarantine seemed like a good time to pick this book back up and reread it.

Honestly, it was an enjoyable read. Everything was very predictable. The characters were not the most in-depth or fleshed out. The timeline of events and especially the main romance were incredibly unrealistic, but the book is also about magical powers and dragons so...

Will this be a classic? No.

Does it engage in deep conversations? Not particularly.

It’s just a fun supernatural read with a semi-strong female main character (semi-unrealistic). A great beach read with no inappropriate scenes. This is a clean book.

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I just couldn’t get into this one. The two MCs are supposed to be a 15-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy, but the kids flip flop constantly between speaking/acting like adults at least twice their age (which maybe I could get behind with the medieval setting) but then throwing temper tantrums like a bunch of toddlers (which makes no sense given their earlier bouts of maturity). Specific to the kindle e-book version, there were also just waaaay too many formatting/quality issues to read without being distracted by it.

[joie de livre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fun.I loved the whole new world with the 5 kingdoms and I especially adored the names of every character since those unique and pretty names are totally my style.
I just hated how easily everyone trusted Melayne and how everyone fell in love with her.I mean she was pretty and brave which might attract some people but there are so many others that I think is kind of unrealistic.
I also disliked the age difference between her and Sander.I mean he's basically twenty five and she's fifteen,are you kidding me?This book was written in 1998 which may pose as an explanation but it still annoyed me a little.
The worst part was how easily she made friends.I know that if you're a social butterfly and if you're friendly it's easy to make friends but to make everyone trust you and even cry when you leave in a day is too much.
The ABSOLUTE WORST character ever was Sarrow.
I'm going to be honest and voice my opinion about him here:
Fuck that little spoiled heartless stupid chauvinistic sexist selfish kid.
Seriously though.He only cared about his well-being and thought that his sister had to look after him all the time.He whined all the time that he was hungry or tired.He didn't even shed a tear when his parents were murdered and he was saying all the time stupid sexist things like:"only girls cry,I'm not a girl to be afraid"and stuff like that.
He was only 8 you might say but that is not an explanation for this kind of behavior.
I really liked how she tried to manage equality between Talents and humans and I loved how she could communicate with the animals and they could help her.I felt at some point that I was reading a modernization of a fantastical Snow White.
From my review it may look like I hated this book but it was just this unrealistic childish vibe that I got from Melayne being adored and helped everywhere she went and the instantaneous and trustful friendships she had that annoyed me.Clearly this book was for younger kids even though some things may have hinted to inappropriate situations and there were some murders going around.
My favorite character was a wolf(Greyn) which says a lot but I also liked Ysane.
I wouldn't recommend this to people who like reasonable plots(even though I'm a huge fan of fantasy but there's a difference between reasonable and realistic and an even bigger difference between realistic plot and realistic characters) and deep realistic characters but I do recommend it to people that like a short fantasy book with dragons and a happily ever after,nice flow and a character that can always get out of sticky situations with her abilities and wit.

[Kay Iscah · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens when you take one part X-men, one part Jane Eyre, one part Dragonheart, and then sprinkle on a few bits of irrelevant humor from The Nanny? Apparently you get Dragonhome. Over all grade, being generous: C-.

Peel manages to build a world with not very unique but still potentially interesting concepts. Most of the characters work on an archetype level but not so much on a practical one. The plot meanders, dodging potentially interesting situations that could be books unto themselves to move onto other potential situations that aren't always quite as interesting. The romance is boring, rushed, and forced...and a tad creepy when you remember that the girl is 15 and the guy 25...given the medieval like time period, it's not entirely unrealistic.

I like strong female characters, but Melayne is overboard. Everyone (at least everyone we're supposed to like) bows to her 15 year old idealistic wisdom very quickly. All her plans work...if not prefectly, still effectively. The male lead can't come up with anything clever himself...which is disappointing. "Oh, dearest, let's do whatever you say cause you're so clever and wonderful. I don't care that you're a servant girl, and I'm a rich Lord. It's okay that you boss me around, cause you're always right." (gag). Actually, I take back Melayne being overboard. She's all right. It's more that everyone else in the story needs to be brought up to her level. One 3 dimensional character can't carry 369 pages filled with other wise 1D characters.

The book needs a sequel to resolve several of the unresolved plot threads, but in that case rushing the romance was an even worse crime. There's some tease in the last chapter that the characters must someday return to deal with these unresolved issues, but otherwise no indication that a second book will follow.

Even with it's faults, it's not too painful a read. It has moments of humor and you can't help cheering on Melayne now and then....but I'm ready to move on.